Danvers Projects Receive Essex Heritage Grants

Danvers, MA - Two local projects recently benefited from Essex Heritage grants.

The Essex National Heritage Commission (Essex Heritage), in keeping with its long tradition of supporting the region’s unique cultural heritage, announced the 2016 Essex Heritage Partnership Grant Program recipients at the Commission’s Spring Meeting in Newburyport on April 14. Over the next year, the 20 grant recipients will be working to implement a diverse range of educational, interpretive, and preservation projects throughout Boston’s North Shore.

“We recognize the importance of supporting local organizations” said Annie Harris, Essex Heritage CEO, “and we are proud that we are able to award twenty partnership grants this year – not only in recognition of the 20th anniversary of the Congressional Act that designated the Essex National Heritage Area but also because we know that this seed money greatly impacts the region by leveraging more investments in Essex County.”

The Danvers projects to receive grants were:

Danvers Alarm List Company

The Rebecca Nurse Homestead is a circa 1678 farmstead museum in current day Danvers. The 25-acre gem was the home of Rebecca Nurse, a 71-year old woman hanged during witchcraft hysteria of 1692. Thousands flock to the site each year. As the first of several planned capital repairs, the nonprofit Danvers Alarm List Company will utilize its Partnership Grant to repoint the massive central chimney using traditional techniques and materials. The chimney was rebuilt in 1909 by well-known historical architect Joseph Everett Chandler whose other notable preservation projects included The House of the Seven Gables in Salem and the Paul Revere House in Boston.

Friends of Endicott Park

Owned by the Town of Danvers, Endicott Park encompasses 165 acres, incorporating pastoral views, historic farm buildings, orchards, woodlands, marshes, and a trail network. Over 160,000 people visit each year. In partnership with the town, the Friends of Endicott Park are helping to convert a section of a former carriage house into a nature and environmental center. Staffed by naturalists, the center will offer educational programs to the general public, school groups, scout troops, and summer camps. The Essex Heritage grant will be used for the installation of exhibits and interactive experiences that will connect visitors with the park’s diverse ecological sites and habitats.

Essex Heritage is the non-profit organization that manages the Essex National Heritage Area by developing programs that enhance, preserve, and encourage recreation, education, conservation and interpretation projects on Boston’s North Shore and the Lower Merrimack River Valley. The Essex National Heritage Area is comprised of the 34 cities and towns of Essex County, MA. For more information, visitwww.EssexHeritage.org or call (978) 740-0444.